The Bottom LineIts newly designed tower, HDMI port, and generous hard-drive capacity aren't enough to make the Asus Essentio CM5671-05 stand out next to the HP Pavilion p6510y, a similarly priced system with a faster quad-core processor and built-in Wi-Fi. The Asus system is no slouch, and we recommend it to shoppers who are concerned with storage capacity rather than speed, but even amateur media editors will benefit from the HP p6510y's extra speed.

Asus finally gave the Essentio CM5671-05's chassis a makeover, but its good looks and 1TB hard drive don't change the system's unremarkable components. If you limit your common tasks to Web browsing and media playback, you'll be satisfied with the Essentio CM5671-05; however, if you edit digital media, you should spend a little more money and buy the HP Pavilion p6510y.

Asus redesigned its Essentio desktops this season, giving the line a chassis that takes a much-needed aesthetic departure from the boring, boxy shape of older models such as the Essentio CM5571-BR003. Once hidden behind a front panel on the old case, the media card reader is now prominently placed on an angled lip at the top of the chassis along with four USB ports and two audio jacks. The system's optical drive and expansion bay complete the chassis' front panel.

Asus Essentio CM5671-05

HP Pavilion p6510y

Price

$500

$530

CPU

2.8GHz Intel Dual-Core E5500

2.8GHz AMD Athlon II X4 630

Memory

4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM

4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM

Graphics

128MB (shared) Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics chip

256MB (shared) ATI RS880 integrated graphics chip

Hard drives

1TB, 7,200rpm

750GB, 7,200rpm

Optical drive

dual-layer DVD burner

dual-layer DVD burner

Networking

10/100/1,000 Ethernet LAN

10/100/1,000 Ethernet LAN, 802.11 b/g/n wireless

Operating system

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

The Asus Essentio CM5671-05 closest competitor is the HP Pavilion p6510y, a similar midtower that bundles more features in a slightly pricier configuration. Both systems' have 4GB of system memory, but the HP has a faster quad-core AMD processor that is better suited for multitasking and multithreaded programs, as you can see in the performance charts.

The HP makes a compelling argument for its purchase with a victory over the Asus Essentio CM5671-05 in three out of four of our benchmark tests. The Gateway DX4840-03e we include in the comparison costs $100 more than the Asus and has a faster CPU clock speed with its Core i3 processor, so its unmatched triumph in our tests isn't surprising. Based on the test results, the HP is the best system for running multithreaded applications--such as certain media editing programs--that can take advantage of its quad-core AMD chip. It even bested the Gateway with its Core i3 processor in our multicore Cinebench test. Not one of the systems in this price range is a true performance PC, but the HP comes across as the better basic productivity PC than the Asus does.

The Asus has plenty of space available inside for upgrades. It has a standard PCI slot for an aftermarket video card, two PCI Express slots, and a single 1x PCI Express slot for further expansion. You can also add two more sticks of memory--two slots are occupied by 2GB sticks already--and another hard drive to the open bay.

To make up for its speed deficiencies, the Asus has more connectivity options than the HP has. The Asus has an HDMI port, S/PDIF digital audio in, 10 USB ports, and the standard analog audio jacks. We connected the system to a standard desktop monitor with an HDMI cable and the Essentio ran full-screen video from YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, and Netflix without any hiccups and it played full 1080p HD movie trailers from Apple's Web site.

Justin Yu covers headphones and peripherals for CNET. When he's not wading through Web gulch or challenging colleagues to typing tests, you can find him making fun of technology with Jeff Bakalar every afternoon on The 404 show.
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